When Turkey was a superpower

This is about the year 1300 AD, when the Turkmen chief Usman Khan founded the largest empire in the Islamic world, called the Ottoman Empire in history, in Anatolia or Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). Murad I, the third sultan of the Ottoman Empire, raised the banner of victory in Europe. After the conquests of Adrana (Adrianople) and Philippopolis (Bulgaria), Sultan Murad I also assumed the title of Caliph of the Muslims.

However, the central position of the Abbasid Caliphate in Egypt remained Muslim in the Islamic world. Therefore, the Sultans of India, Muhammad Tughlaq, and Feroze Tughlaq, had sent gifts to Cairo and obtained the certificate of government from the Abbasi Caliph. The seventh Ottoman sultan, Muhammad II, conquered Constantinople (Caesar) and overthrew the 1100-year-old Byzantine Roman Empire. Thus he became a mujahid who fulfilled the hadith of the Prophet. History has given him the title of Muhammad the Conqueror.

Lafat passed to the Ottoman Turks

In the early sixteenth century, Portuguese Christians invaded India and the ports of the East Indies (Indonesia and Malaya) to Hormuz (Iran), Muscat (Oman), and Aden (Yemen). Their naval attacks posed a threat to the Holy Land. While the countries of Egypt, which included the Hijaz, had weakened. Under these circumstances, the ninth Ottoman Sultan Salim I (1520-1512 AD) conquered Syria and Egypt and took the Hijaz under his control and obtained the position of caliphate from the last Abbasid Caliph Mutawakil Ali Allah. Thus the caliphate was transferred from the Abbasids to the Ottoman Turkmen and Constantinople became the capital instead of Cairo.

Ottoman conquests in Europe

The Tenth Ottoman Caliph, Suleiman the Magnificent (1566-1520 AD), extended his conquests in Europe beyond Hungary to Austria. His successor, Saleem II, conquered the Crusader center of Cyprus in the Mediterranean. The rise of the Islamic Empire and Caliphate during the reign of Caliph Murad III, son of Saleem II, is unprecedented in history.

At that time, the Ottoman Caliphate covered about 20 million square kilometers. It ruled Aceh (Indonesia) in the east, Fas (Morocco) in the west, Borno (Nigeria) and Bagermi (Chad) and Mombasa in Africa in the south, and Greece, Macedonia, Albania in Europe in the north. Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia was part of it. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the heyday of the Ottoman Empire and Caliphate. With the exception of the Safavid Empire of Iran, the Mughal Empire of India, and the states of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khwarazm, the entire Islamic world was united under one Khilafah.

The dignity of Islam is on the rise

Meanwhile, the Muslim Tatar states of Granada (Andalusia) in the West and Kazan (present-day Tatarstan) in Eastern Europe and Astrakhan were occupied by Christians. Regardless of the tragedies of the fall of Granada (1492 AD) and the fall of Kazan (1552 AD) and the fall of Astrakhan (1555 AD) at the hands of Russia, the prestige and dominance of Islam were established all over the world by the footsteps of the Ottoman Caliphate. Queen Elizabeth, I even wrote letters of thanks to Caliph Murad III for his support of the Ottoman navy in the naval war against Spain in AD 1580.

Rulers around the world and the Ottoman Caliph. Constantinople (Istanbul), Edirne, Belgrade, Athens, Budapest, Aleppo, Alexandria, Sarajevo, Antioch, Cairo, Tripoli (Lebanon), Damascus, Mosul, Baghdad, Basra, Tunisia, Algeria, Fas, Khartoum, Muscat, Mombasa, Beit, Borno, Aden, Tripoli (Libya) were proud and flourishing cities of the Islamic Caliphate. The sun and moon of Makkah and Madinah shone between them.

When there were cracks in the Khilafah

The first sign of weakness in the Ottoman Caliphate appeared in 1683 AD. Then the Ottoman Turks failed in their second siege of Vienna (Austria). Three years later, Hungary fell to the Turks, who had been under Turkish rule from1526. Over the next two and a half centuries, the Christian kingdoms of Russia and Austria repeatedly clashed with the Ottoman Empire.

In the 19th century, France and Britain (England) also joined the confrontation against the Ottoman Empire. The conspiracies and successive attacks of these Christian powers led Greece, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, Georgia and Crimea (Ukraine) out of the hands of the Ottomans. Algeria and Tunisia were ruled by France and Egypt, Sudan, Aden (Yemen), and Oman (Muscat) by the British. The flag of the Ottoman Caliphate was flying from Albania and Macedonia to Baghdad and Basra and the borders of Yemen, and the two holy shrines were under its control.

The sick man of Europe

In 1826 AD, Sultan Mahmud II broke the arm of the Ottoman forces, the Swordsmen. During the reign of Sultan Abdul Majeed I (1861-1839 AD), the British sent their warships from Aden to shell Jeddah and martyred thousands of Arabs. The reason for this British aggression was that the Arabs had killed some British people for desecrating the Islamic slogan. Caliph Abdel Majeed had a soft spot for Britain and France for supporting the Turks against Russia in the Crimean War (1853 AD) and was not ready to confuse the British.

The caliph also issued a constitutional declaration in the name of the "Humayun's letter" at the behest of the European powers, which gave followers of every sect and religion complete freedom to perform their religious duties. In those days, Russia and France became increasingly the guardians of the rights of Christians living under the rule of the Ottoman Caliphate. Under the guise of granting them so-called rights, they liberated Greece, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. However, after the Crimean War, Russia relinquished the support and patronage of the Christians in the Khilafah kingdom and was replaced by Britain. Turkey is now called the sick man of Europe.

Western influence in the Ottoman Empire

During the reign of Caliph Abdul Aziz (1871-61 AD), the influence of the West spread rapidly in the Ottoman Empire, which proved to be very detrimental to the survival and stability of the Khilafah. Liberalism flourished in Turkey. Liberal playwright Namiq Kamal was a pioneer of this movement. At the instigation of the Western powers, the Greeks of the island of Crete revolted in 1868-66. The island has been under Turkish rule for two centuries. The island's Christians announced their accession to Greece. The Ottoman army suppressed the uprising within a year.

In 1875, there were uprisings in Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. Medhat Pasha, the leader of Turkey's so-called reformists, became prime minister on May10, 1976. On May 30, Madhat and his associates deposed Abdul Aziz and installed his nephew as a caliph named Murad Khams, but he was deposed in August due to a mental illness.

Now Abdul Hameed II (1876 to 1909) became the caliph. He wanted to restore the position of the Khilafah and the dignity of the Turks which was the hallmark of his predecessors. He was a sympathizer and Islamic supporter of Syed Jamaluddin Afghani's Tehreek-e-Ittihad-e-Alam-e-Islam (Pan-Islamism). Due to his Islamic support, so-called liberals and modernists have made various allegations against him. Among them was Prime Minister Madhat Pasha.

The caliph dismissed Madhat Pasha in February 1877 and deported him. On March 19, the first Turkish parliament was inaugurated. When the parliament rushed to put Turkey on the path to the West, the sultan put it on hold and suspended the constitution announced by Medhat Pasha in December. Shortly afterward, former Caliph Abdul Aziz committed suicide or was assassinated. In 11881, Madhat and his associates were tried and convicted of the murder of Abdul Aziz. But the intervention of the British government saved him from the death penalty.

The last Russia-Turkey war

In 1876, the Christian states of Serbia and Montenegro heated up the fight against Turkey at the instigation of Western powers. In 1877 AD, Russia started a war against Turkey. Ghazi Usman Pasha put up strong resistance in the fort of Paluna, but the Russian troops reached Adrana and captured it. In 1878, the European powers Britain, France, and Germany ended the war. However, under the guise of a ceasefire, Britain occupied Cyprus.

When France resented this, German Chancellor Bismarck silenced France, saying that he could occupy Tunisia if given the chance. The British would not object to this attack, so in 1881 AD, France invaded and occupied Tunisia. Bulgaria later gained independence under nominal Ottoman rule under the Treaty of Berlin, and Bosnia and Herzegovina was ceded to Austria. On the other hand, according to the secret imperialist plan, in 1882 AD, Britain occupied Egypt.

In 1897 AD, Greece started a war with Turkey. Ghazi Adham Pasha invaded Greece and conquered most of Greece within a few days. The Turks were about to seize the Greek capital, Athens, and Britain and other powers made peace between Turkey and Greece on the condition that the Turks leave the conquered territory and appoint a Greek governor instead of a Turkish ruler on the island of Crete. Thus, due to the expansion of the world powers, Greece was rewarded for waging war.

The offer of global Zionism and the denial of Caliph Abdul Hamid

In the same year, a meeting of the world Jewish movement, Zionism, was held in Basel, Switzerland, in which the "Zionist Elders" adopted protocols. The most important of these was the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Therefore, a delegation of the World Zionist Organization met with Caliph Abdul Hamid II and requested that a Jewish state be established in Palestine, in return for which it would repay all the debts of the Ottoman Empire. Demonstrating Islamic sympathy, Caliph Abdul Hamid flatly refused and convinced the Jewish elders that he did not have the right to give a single penny of Palestinian to the Jews. One of the members of this Jewish delegation was one of the Caliph's subjects, Hakam Qarasou Affandi, who played a key role in the defeat of the Ottoman Caliphate.

The Zionists went to great lengths to uproot the Khilafah

When the Zionist delegation returned unsuccessfully from the court of Caliph Abdul Hamid II, the Zionists began a plan to uproot the Khilafah. The Young Turks movement was instrumental in realizing their nefarious aims.

This secret movement was formed in 1896 and consisted mostly of young Turks who had been exiled to France, Switzerland, and Britain due to their anti-Khilafah activities. Influenced by European ideas, they were active in overthrowing the Khilafah. The movement also included Qara Sufandis such as Jews, Christians, Armenians and Macedonians.

In 1904, Talat Bay, a leader of the Young Turkish Party, set up a public party center in Paris to publicize its aims and objectives. The young Turks also gained influence in the Ottoman army and thousands of military officers became supporters of the movement. It was in Paris that the Union of Unity and Development was tarnished. The Hijaz Railway from Damascus to Madinah was completed in 1900-1908. This railway was built with public donations. This made it much easier for pilgrims and pilgrims from Syria and Palestine, Turkey and Europe to travel to and from Arabia.

Pro-Jewish Association for Unity and Development

In December1907, young Turks and other revolutionary groups opposed to the Khilafah met in Paris. The meeting decided to contact groups of disgruntled Turkish military officers and Freemasons in Thessaloniki and other cities. Now the Association for Unity and Development has moved its headquarters from Paris to Thessaloniki. Remember that Mustafa Pasha (Ataturk) was born in Thessaloniki, then part of the Ottoman Empire, which is under the rule of western Greece.

The biggest organized revolutionary movement in Turkey was Niazi Bay. He raised the issue of the uprising in Macedonia on July 5, 1908. The Macedonian army, led by Anwar Pasha sided with him. The caliph sent Aziz Bay to rule Macedonia to suppress the rebels. He arrested several officers in Thessaloniki, but the anti-government movement was gaining momentum. The Sultan now sent Shamsi Pasha with an army to Macedonia. Anwar Pasha met Shamsi Pasha in Manastar (Macedonia) and asked him to refrain from taking action against the young Turks. The next day, Shamsi Pasha was assassinated.

The overthrow of Caliph Abdul Hamid II

Caliph Abdul Hamid now commissioned Usman Pasha to suppress the rebels. But his army joined the rebels. Meanwhile, Anjuman-e-Ittehad-e-Tarqi decided to remove the caliph. On the same day, military officers from various centers sent an e-mail to the caliph asking for an immediate announcement of the formation of a constitutional government. Therefore, the caliph restored the constitution of 1876 on July24, 1908. In October of that year, Bulgaria declared full independence, and Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The first session of Parliament was held on December 18,1908. It had an overwhelming majority of young Turks. He forced the moderate prime minister, Kamil Pasha, to resign in February1919, and appointed one of his sympathizers, Helmi Pasha, as prime minister. On April 13, the first army of Constantinople, consisting of more Tarlibanis, revolted.

On this occasion, due to the opposition of the supporters of the Khilafah and Islamic groups, Helmi Pasha resigned. On April 3, the leader of the association, Mahmoud Shaukat Pasha arrived in Constantinople with military officers such as Niazi, Haqi and Anwar Pasha for the "Freedom Fighter", which numbered 3,000. After five hours of fighting, he captured the city. Many supporters of Caliph Abdul Hamid was killed. On April 26,1919, the removal of the caliph was announced with the approval of parliament.

Ironically, the delegation led by Anwar Pasha, which took the butterfly's resignation to the caliph, included the Jewish rabbi Qarasou Affandi. Caliph Abdul Hamid was sent to Thessaloniki, where he died in February1918.

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